CAVAMAX®

CAVAMAX® is the trade name for natural cyclodextrins from WACKER. WACKER is the only company in the world to manufacture all three natural cyclodextrins – α, β and γ.

Innovative CAVAMAX®cyclodextrins permit the molecular encapsulation of substances – such as vitamins, bitter substances, essential oils and the like – and thereby pave the way to completely new applications and products, particularly in the life sciences. Because CAVAMAX®cyclodextrins can reversibly encapsulate other materials, they can modify their properties, for example by improving their stability and solubility in aqueous media or reducing their volatility.

This allows them also to selectively improve the properties of polymer systems. They can be used for example as a process auxiliary in polymerization or as a rheology-control additive.

Other applications include masking unpleasant odors, stabilizing aromas and increasing the solubility of active ingredients. Moreover, CAVAMAX®cyclodextrins are used in fermentation to extract the desired fermentation products. They are particularly suitable for lipophilic products.

CAVAMAX®cyclodextrins are already used in various applications in the personal care, consumer care, pharmaceutical, foods and food supplement sectors.

We supply CAVAMAX®cyclodextrins in a pharmaceutical grade (CAVAMAX® Pharma), food grade (CAVAMAX® Food) and in standard technical grade. Our portfolio also includes various CAVAMAX®cyclodextrin complexes.

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Chemical Definition

Cyclodextrins are non-reducing chiral sugars, whose molecules are made of several glucose building blocks linked into a ring. According to the number of glucose units – and therefore the ring size – a distinction is made between α, β and γ-cyclodextrin: α-cyclodextrin has six , β-cyclodextrin seven, and γ-cyclodextrin eight glucose units. Cyclodextrins are natural degradation products of starch. The cyclodextrin molecules are structured so that the hydrophilic (water-loving) glucose building blocks face outwards and there is a a lipophilic cavity (i.e. one with an affinity for fat) on the inside. This cavity can receive another lipophilic molecule as “guest,” provided it is of a size and shape that enable it to fit. The cohesion between the two molecules is only produced by relatively weak van der Waals forces, so that the guest molecule can be liberated again under suitable conditions. The weak van der Waals forces in such inclusion compounds leave the two counterpart molecules unchanged.